When Tuoba Hong was 18 years old, he passed the emperor's throne to his 5-year-old son, Tuoba Hong. Become the Emperor himself. Tuoba Hong became the 7th emperor of Northern Wei.
Since Empress Feng was a Han Chinese, Tuoba Hong was raised by Empress Feng from an early age, and he was also a Han Chinese as his teacher, so he loved Han culture since he was a child, and after he pro-government, he vigorously promoted Han culture. He required that all officials under the age of 30 who did not speak Chinese be dismissed.
On the issue of moving the capital, he patiently did the ideological work of the ministers, and he knew that the capital was in Pingcheng (present-day Datong, Shanxi) and had no future for development. So he wrote, directed, and acted in a play.
In August 493, he led an army of 300,000 under false pretenses, and in September, the army arrived in Luoyang, coinciding with continuous rain, muddy roads, and difficulties in marching. Emperor Xiaowen ordered a further march south. The ministers recalled the lessons of Emperor Taiwu's great defeat in the southern expedition against Liu Song, and they all knelt down and begged Emperor Xiaowen to stop the southern expedition.
Emperor Xiaowen took the opportunity to say: "This expedition took a lot of work and spent a lot of money, but we must not return without success, and if we do not march south, we will move the capital, do you approve of it?" The Civil and Military Officials felt that moving the capital was stronger than the Southern Expedition, so they all chose to move the capital. History proves that this relocation of the capital also advanced the unification of the Chinese nation by Yang Jian of the Sui Dynasty by many years.
After the Northern Wei Dynasty moved its capital to Luoyang, in 496, it changed the Tuoba clan to the Yuan clan. The practice of reciprocal marriage relations between the two nationalities according to the level of their disciples has also greatly alleviated ethnic contradictions.
In March 498, in a rebellion in the Northern Gaoche region, Yuanhong sent Yuwen Fu's army to fight, but returned with a big defeat, at which time Yuanhong suffered a heart attack. In March 499, Southern Qi attacked Wei, northern Wei was defeated, Yuanhong then commanded a large army to march in person, although victorious, but due to trekking and running, Yuanhong's illness worsened, and when he returned to Pengcheng, this outstanding hero left the world.
Yuan Hong (拓跋宏) reigned for 29 years, only 33 years old at the time of his death, with the courtesy name Ofi Xiaowen and the temple name Gaozu.
(History Of Writing No. 105, March 14, 2021)
